Chap. IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 317 



the means of wiping away that stain of ignorance 

 from this enlightened age." 



But there are others besides the utilitarians that 

 make objections to inquiries of this nature, on the 

 score of religious prejudices ; and will say, that God 

 never intended us to scrutinize places against which 

 He had set his barrier. Thus the Rev. Lewis Way, 

 the wealthy proprietor of Stansted, and so staunch 

 an advocate for the conversion of the Jews, that he 

 made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with that object in 

 view — this reverend gentleman one day said to a 

 friend, " I know Sir Joseph Banks very well, and 

 he was a good friend of mine, though he used to 

 joke with me sometimes about my endeavour to 

 convert the Jews ; but I told him that my scheme 

 was, at any rate, a much wiser one than his ; he 

 was trying to send ships to the North Pole, which 

 it was clear God never intended ; while the con- 

 version of the Jews was an event which we all know 

 was to be brought about some time or other." 



This may be looked upon, as doubtless Sir Joseph 

 Banks looked upon it, as sheer nonsense. Every 

 intelligent mind must be satisfied, that the more 

 closely we investigate the works of the creation, the 

 more, as rational beings, we must be convinced that 

 nothing therein has been made in vain, nor without 

 a preconceived and settled design, the finished work 

 of a beneficent and Almighty Power ; and if Mr. 

 Lewis Way had recollected a passage in the most 



